India thrash England by 126 runs!

NEW DELHI: Young Indian bowlers bowled out England for 174 in 36.1 overs to register a thumping 126 runs victory in the first one-day international of the five-match series at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

India took a 1-0 lead in the series with this impressive victory on Friday.

Chasing 301-run target, England lost wickets at regular intervals while trying to keep pace with the required run-rate against India.

Ravindra Jadeja (3-34) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-35) took three English wickets each as the England batsmen failed to read the Indian spinners and lost five wickets in eight overs – 22 to 30 overs – in the middle session.

Ashwin bowled Jade Dernbach (2) to wrap up the England innings as India beat them at last after series whitewash in England.

Young pacer Umesh Yadav took two quick wickets to continue the spinners’ exploit as England stuttered in their run chase. Yadav clean bowled Samit Patel (16) and Graeme Swann (8) in his consecutive overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin got rid of Tim Bresnan (4) as England were reduced to 134/7 in 29.2 overs from 111/2 in 22.3 overs.

Young Jonathan Bairstow (3) became Ravindra Jadeja’s third victim as the left-armer rocked the visiters run chase soon after Ashwin dismissed Ravi Bopara (3) in previous over.

Jadeja also dismissed Jonathan Trott (26) in the 25th over soon after claiming the important wicket of Alastair Cook (60) in the 23rd.

Cook scored a patient 60 off 63 balls and hit seven boundaries whereas Trott score a cautious 26 off 42 balls without scoring any boundaries. They added valuable 71-run stand for the third wicket after losing two early wickets.

England lost Kevin Pietersen (19) and Craig Kieswetter (7) early on Friday.

Pietersen was run out in the tenth over as England were reduced to 40/2 in 9.1 overs. Pacer Praveen Kumar struck in the third over to get rid of Kieswetter and gave India early breakthrough.

Dhoni led the hosts’ innings with a typical aggressive knock in their series opener. The skipper smashed a six and 10 boundaries in his 70-ball blitzkrieg.

Dhoni added quick-fire 65-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (27) as they increase the tempo in the last fifteen overs. Jadeja hit couple of sixes and a four in his 22-ball cameo.

Raina led India’s fightback with his skipper as they added 72-run stand for the fifth wicket after a slow start. The left hander hit two sixes and five boundaries in his 55-ball knock before Steven Finn got better of him.

Pietersen’s fine catch at the boundary brought curtains to Virat Kohli’s gritty innings as India struggled against the visitors.

Kohli played a gritty knock of 37 off 63 balls without any boundary or six as they were in deep trouble after their top-order batsmen got out inside 80 runs.

England picked up their third wicket in the form of Gautam Gambhir. Seamer Jade Dernbach slower one did the trick as Gambhir was trapped leg before in front of the stumps.

Gambhir made a quick-fire 32 of 33 balls which included four boundaries. India got off to a bad start as they lost both their openers Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel cheaply against England.

Rahane, who scored a patient 15 off 41 balls, went for the big heave but missed Graeme Swann’s delivery completely as wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter made no mistake in removing the stumps.

India suffered an early setback when they lost Patel in a dramatic run-out. Patel, who made 9 off 10 balls, got run-out after he was caught outside the crease at the non-striker’s end.

Seamer Steven Finn tried to stop the ball which touched his fingers on the way to hit the stumps.

Earlier, Indian skipper Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat against England.

India have decided to go with three seamers in Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav along with lone specialist spinner in R Ashwin.

The tourists left out seasoned batsman Ian Bell to accommodate exciting youngster Jonathan Bairstow, who smashed an unbeaten century off 53 balls in a practice match on Tuesday.

This will be the first series where the new ICC rule of using separate new balls from both ends will be implemented along with changed Powerplay rules.